At Texas Air, Safety and Public Take a Back Seat; Standards Sought

Published: May 2, 1988

To the Editor:

Two items April 15 belong together. ''Bushwacking Texas Air'' (editorial) insinuates that the pilots' union and others have acted from selfish motives in denouncing unsafe practices at Continental and Eastern. A news article reports the safe landing of a Piedmont airliner after an engine exploded and disintegrated, punching two large holes in the fuselage.

That story does not mention the names of the two union pilots who landed the plane safely. It should. And the incident should serve as a reminder that for airline crews, safety is not an abstraction or one among many items on the balance sheet, but their everyday job.

You might remember that before suggesting again that airline managers' ''hard-nosed'' pursuit of profit is a public service - ''keeping the industry on its competitive toes'' -while the unions' demand for adequate standards of safety is a ''heavy-handed'' and purely self-seeking maneuver. BARBARA J. FIELDS New York, April 15, 1988